Software in AS Coursework:
PHOTOSHOP AS: - Tools I used: Cropping Tools (Marquee/Wand Tool, Lassos), Colour Converting Tools (Red Eye Corrector, Colour Variations, Colour Dropper, Dodge and Burn), Typography, Shape Tools, Brightness, Contrast, Saturations, Shadow Effect, Bevel, Grid View, and Layers.
- What these tools allowed me to do: Using this program allowed me to suitably manipulate images in order to create my music magazine. It allowed me to insert text using different and interesting typography, insert images and manipulate colours, contrast, brightness and layout of all elements. Whilst producing and editing my magazine I made use of the tools within Adobe Photoshop. For example, the various cropping tools, such as Marquee (Magic Wand) and Lassos, allowed me to accurately crop my images and move elements around within the overall layout. Using these tools effectively also helped me to produce a much more realistic and professional finish on the images. Other tools within Photoshop were also useful, like colour converting tools, such as Red Eye Corrector, Colour Variations, Colour Dropper, Dodge and Burn, these tools helped me to adjust colours to match the overall colour pallet, as well as improving the overall quality of the images by removing red eye. Font tools helped me to manipulate the text within my magazine to appeal to my audience as part of mode of address, the changes I made included typography, colour, and layout of the font. Making considerations regarding these elements allowed me to effectively adjust them to my audience and conventions. Matching up the typography throughout all elements of my magazine also helped me to create a house style; other areas of Photoshop allowed me to also create a house style through the use of colours, photo framing and shape tools. The photographs themselves could be easily manipulated using brightness and contrast features, saturation tools and shadow effects. These tools could also be used on other elements, such as the masthead, as I could manipulate shadows and bevel within the text. Matching these elements also helped to create a house style; matching layout was also useful, as the use of the conventional rule of thirds helped me to both clearly layout all content and elements of the magazine and match the elements together. Using layers within photoshop allowed me to keep my work organised and separated into sections and managable areas. It also allowed me to edit individual elements without interfering with others. When creating my double page spread I also used the 'Grid View' fuction as this allowed me to allign the content of the pages and seperate my A3 page accurately into two. This improved the overall layout of the page and helped me to line all the elements up.
- Website I used: www.blogger.com
- How I used this website: Whilst doing both the AS and A2 coursework I kept a blog to help me record all my research and planning materials. The website that I used (www.blogger.com) is an example of 'Web 2.0 technology' (O'Reilly, 2004), this means that the technology is intereactive, making it a two-way and collaborative. This website was therefore really useful as it encouraged audience feedback through the comment feature on the blog, which allows other bloggers to post comments on individual elements and easily give feedback. This provided extra feedback and was therefore useful within my coursework. Having feedback on research and planning elements also helped me to make decisions early on.
- What I uploaded: Whilst in the planning stage I also uploaded elements to my blog such as short videos and presentations. These included YouTube videos, Animoto videos and my animatic storyboard, draft videos and final video for my A2 coursework.
- How I created these: The YouTube videos were embedded into my blog and were not created by me. However, the Animoto video was created on www.animoto.com and used for my pitches at both AS and A2, these were then embedded onto my blog. Creating this video involved placing images, music and text into a basic, pre-made format, this meant that the skill level involved was minimal. To create my animatic storyboard I used iMovie, this program allowed me to insert the images from my hand drawn storyboard and place them in timed frames alongside the audio file, this was more advanced than the Animoto video, however it was still quit basic. Creating the drafts and final music video took much more skill. For this, I used Adobe Premiere Element 11, this program allowed me to insert the clips from filming, cut them down to time and place them in the correct order on a timeline. I also was able to mute the clips and lip-sync them to the audio track; both these elements where similar to those within iMovie. However, Premiere Elements also allowed me to make more specific and advanced changes. For example, I was able to edit the look of the shot, e.g. lighting, saturation, brightness, tint and tone, and contrast. I could also apply fade transitions between shots and at the begining and end of the video. At A2 my blogging skills improved considerably, as I blogged more frequently and recieved more feedback.
- AS: Within the AS coursework I used a compact digital camera to take photographs for my preliminary task, these were of a moderate quality that I felt could be improved. Therefore, within my media product, I used a digital SLR camera to take my final photographs. I used USB connectors to transfer the photographs onto the desktop. When creating my preliminary task, I had to crop and frame these images within Photoshop. This inital task helped me to adjust to the program and learn the basics before starting my coursework; it also helped me to see areas that I didn't understand, couldn't use or needed help with. It also helped me to understand the importance of framing the photographs themselves, as certain considerations can help to improve the quality of cropping, for example, taking photographs against a plain/white background will help.
- A2: At A2 I did not take photographs within my ancillary products, so I did not use a camera. However, I did use a video camera to create my music video. The camera that I used was a digital HD camera. To take the shots off of the camera we used a SD card reader and copied them onto a External Hard Drive as the HD video required a large amount of memory space. To edit the video I used Adobe Premiere Elements 11, this program allowed me to place cut clips on a timeline and layer audio and video together.To ensure my work was precise I spent a considerable amount of time on lip-syncing to make sure it was accurately matched; this also helped to match the audio to the video. Another way of matching both elements was to make sure shot changes came on the beats within the music. I also used other adjustments within the program, such as saturation, black and white, contrast, and brightness.
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